2012 a year of change at Southern Miss

Nov. 27, 2012

University of Southern Mississippi President Martha Saunders, right, gives her resignation effective June 30, 2012, as Commissioner of Higher Education Hank Bounds, left, looks on during a press conference in the Aubrey K. Lucas Administration Building Friday April 27, 2012. / Photo by Ryan Moore / Ryan Moore/Hattiesburg American

In just over a year, Southern Miss has waved goodbye to a longtime athletic director, two head football coaches, a head basketball coach, a provost and, most importantly, a president.

Throw in the uproar over the selection of Jeff Hammond to replace the outgoing Richard Giannini as AD, and you have a uniquely dramatic year at Southern Miss.

“I was there for 35 years,” said Parker, who taught from 1975-2010. “There were good years and bad years — shakeups of one sort or another, but not so many shoes dropping in one year.”

The biggest shoe was the unexpected resignation of President Martha Saunders in April, which has left the university on a quest for a new permanent president that will last until spring 2013.

At the time, the departure capped a five-month period in which Giannini, Provost Bob Lyman, basketball coach Larry Eustachy and football coach Larry Fedora either resigned, retired or headed to other jobs.

The latest shoe will cost $2.1 million over the next three years. That’s the amount of former head football coach Ellis Johnson’s buyout. Interim President Aubrey Lucas said the plan was to raise that money entirely from private sources.

It’s a big number during hard economic times, even when it’s not being paid by a dwindling state appropriation that barely covers the school’s growing academic programs.

“Any huge expense it’s scary to look at,” Faculty Senate President Mary Ann Adams said. “We don’t want to have to buy out any more people.”

What all these changes mean for Southern Miss is up for debate. Adams talks about the need for stability and continuity during these tumultuous times.

“All universities that are healthy go through change,” Adams said. “But at some point, you reach a tipping point where too much change isn’t good for the faculty or the students.”

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As to whether Southern Miss has reached that tipping point?

“It’s a concern,” she said.

For Dean of the College of Health Michael Forster, however, it’s more of a question of uncertainty about the future than instability.

“Admittedly, there is uncertainty about the future of the university given Dr. Saunders’ surprise resignation and the subsequent search for a new president. There is no ‘instability’ at Southern Miss, however,” said Forster.

“Dr. Lucas has a steady hand, and the rest of the university leadership team, including the provost and other cabinet members, deans and department heads has remained intact and functioning smoothly,” he explained.

But, even with the steady leadership that Lucas has provided, there are questions about who has the clout to hire the next head football coach.

“Who’s going to be make a call (on the new football coach) when we don’t have a president aboard?” asks Tim Rehner, former faculty senate president. “There is definitely some question about the process.”

Salvation won’t come immediately with the hiring of a new president either. A hire from outside the university community will have to get abreast with the workings of the Legislature, as well as the school’s fundraising operation, according to Parker.

“You can’t hit the ground running full speed. It’s going to take a long time,” Parker said.

But Adams said the key to Southern Miss’ future well-being is finding the right long-term president, one who will defy the recent trend of four- or five-year tenures.

“Someone with a vision who’s going to here for a long time,” she said. “Or certainly longer term than we’ve been used to.”